Sarah Palin to take the stand in Tennessee hacking trial; will star power dazzle jurors?

View full size(AP Photo/Bill Poovey)In this photo taken April 14, 2010, David Kernell, center, who is charged with hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail, is shown entering the federal courthouse at Knoxville, Tenn., with his attorneys, Wade Davies, left, and Anne Passino.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A former college student charged with
hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail account fears some jurors in heavily
Republican East Tennessee could be dazzled when the conservative star
testifies.

View full size(AP Photo/Ed Reinke)In this Feb. 6, 2010 photo, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin addresses attendees at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn. Palin is scheduled to testify in Tennessee at the trial of a University of Tennessee student accused of hacking into her e-mail account.

Jury selection begins today and Palin's testimony could soon follow in the case against 22-year-old David Kernell.

He
was a University of Tennessee student majoring in economics when
prosecutors say he hacked into the Yahoo! account Palin sometimes used
for state business. At the time she was Alaska's governor and the GOP
candidate for vice president.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips
has denied a defense motion to have prospective jurors answer a
questionnaire asking if they have strong political feelings about
Palin. Kernell's attorney, Wade Davies, cited Palin's speaking slot at
a tea party movement convention and frequent television appearances.
She is hugely popular with conservatives.

Convictions on all four
felony charges -- identity theft, wire fraud, intentionally accessing
Palin's e-mail account without authorization and obstructing an FBI
investigation -- could send Kernell to prison for up to 50 years.

"If
I was the individual being charged I would be concerned, particularly
the other party," East Tennessee State University political analyst
David Briley said. "Politics and religion are pretty close to the vest
here."

Kernell's father, Democratic Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis,
has served in the Tennessee House since 1974. He has not been linked to
the case against his son, and he declined to be interviewed Monday.

An
attorney for Palin, Thomas Van Flein of Anchorage, Alaska, said in an
e-mail that the former governor has been subpoenaed by prosecutors "and
she will honor that commitment." Van Flein declined to comment about
the case or about how Palin feels about it.

Prosecutors predicted
the trial could last up to 10 days but would not say when Palin would
testify. Kernell has been free on bond since pleading not guilty after
the indictment was unsealed in October 2008.

He is accused of
accessing Palin's Yahoo! e-mail account by answering a series of
personal security questions, resetting the password to "popcorn,"
making screen shots and posting the contents online using the nickname
"rubico."

The McCain campaign in 2008 described it as a "shocking
invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law" when someone
intruded into Palin's personal account and a few personal messages that
Palin received were shown.

Palin's account was accessed after
news reports that her administration used Yahoo accounts as an
alternative to government e-mail that could be subject to Alaska's Open
Records Act. An Internet security expert previously said the hacker's
trail was easy for investigators to follow.

Davies, the attorney
for Kernell, tried to subpoena Palin's state e-mails for the hacking
case but the judge said it was just a fishing expedition.

Davies
has also unsuccessfully challenged the search warrant that
investigators used to confiscate Kernell's laptop at his Knoxville
apartment and a Knoxville magistrate's authority to issue search
warrants for records of e-mail providers outside of East Tennessee.
Yahoo is located in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Prosecutors have declined to comment about the trial or government witnesses.

A county GOP official in Knoxville said Palin will get plenty of politically friendly attention outside the courthouse.

"People
are excited that she is coming because she is very well thought of,"
said Phyllis Severance, first vice chairwoman of the Knox County GOP.
"The rank-and-file of the party will probably come just to get a chance
to speak to her and shake hands."